"I am really psyched about finally playing Syracuse with Lionel," Mauro writes in an email, after he spotted my syracuse.com post about Richie's June 27 date at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino Event Center in Verona, N.Y.

The guitarist says he expects just about the whole Mauro family and plenty of old friends, including players on the Syracuse University rugby team, to make the 25-mile-or-so trip east of Syracuse.

"Things are going great for me," Mauro writes. "I just got back from a four-week tour of New Zealand and Australia that was pretty fun.

"I am also working on my first solo EP. I have been playing a lot of solo shows here in LA, just acoustic guitar and voice, and they have been going very well," he reports. "As soon as my EP is done, I am planning on doing some shows in Syracuse, too."

Ben Mauro shoots an Internet show he calls "Let's Go" while he travels the world with Richie.